Tech

Dhaka, March 21 (UNB) -The third and final supermoon of the year will light up the sky on March 20, closing out a trifecta of supermoons for 2019 that began in January, reports CNN.

March's full moon also happens on the same day as the spring equinox, welcoming in the season. The last time these two things happened on the same day was March 1981.

The moon will appear brighter and bigger in the night sky and hopefully no clouds and inclement weather will obscure the view. The closest supermoon this year was in February.

No matter what timezone you're in, look out for the supermoon at 9:43 pm ET on Wednesday. If you miss it, the Virtual Telescope Project will be sharing a live stream of the supermoon over the monuments of Rome.

March's full moon is also known as the Full Worm Moon. Traditional and Native American names for each full moon of the year are derived by how they helped to track the seasons. In this case, the ground began to soften in March so that earthworms could appear, drawing more birds to feed, according to the Farmer's Almanac. This moon is associated with spring for that reason.

The arrival of spring and the supermoon will also nearly coincide with an asteroid passing close to Earth, according to the Minor Planet Center. The asteroid, 2019 EA2, will zip by Earth at 190,246 miles away -- closer than the moon. It's 79 feet in diameter, slightly larger than the asteroid that streaked through the sky over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013.
It's an aten asteroid, or a near-Earth asteroid with an Earth-crossing orbit

But the asteroid is expected to pass by safely and without incident on March 21 and 22, depending on where you live.

New York, Mar 20 (AP/UNB) — Google on Tuesday unveiled a video-game streaming platform called Stadia, positioning itself to take on the traditional video-game business.

The platform will store a game-playing session in the cloud and lets players jump across devices operating on Google's Chrome browser and Chrome OS, such as Pixel phones and Chromebooks.

Google didn't say how much its new service will cost, whether it will offer subscriptions or other options, or what games will be available at launch —all key elements to the success of a new video-game platform. It said only that Stadia will be available in late 2019.

Google made the announcement at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Some industry watchers were expecting a streaming console, but Google's platform centers squarely on the company's cloud infrastructure.

"The new generation of gaming is not a box," said Google Vice President Phil Harrison. "The data center is your platform."

Much like movies and music, the traditional video-game industry has been shifting from physical hardware and games to digital downloads and streaming. Video-game streaming typically requires a strong connection and more computing power than simply streaming video, since there is real-time interaction between player and game. Google says it is leveraging its data centers to power the system.

Alphabet Inc.'s Google said playing video games will be as simple as pressing a "Play Now" button, with nothing to download or install. An optional dedicated Stadia controller will be available. The WiFi-enabled controller has a button that lets players launch a microphone and use Google Assistant to ask questions about the games being played. Another button lets users share gameplay directly to Google's video streaming service, YouTube.

Harrison said he expects all gaming will eventually take place outside consoles, in cloud-powered streaming platforms similar to what Google announced. But not right away.

"It won't replace traditional games devices overnight," he said in an interview after the announcement. "And we wouldn't be here if not for the existing traditional platforms."

CFRA Research analyst Scott Kessler said Google's approach that ties YouTube sharing and video-game playing is unique.

"It is not necessarily at this point the easiest thing for people to livestream their games and now you can do it with the push of a button," he said. "What they've done with Stadia is to connect and unify both the gaming platform and the streaming platform which obviously is new."

The company said Stadia will be available in late 2019 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and parts of Europe. Google showed demos of "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" and "Doom Eternal." More information about games and pricing is due this summer.

The U.S. video game industry raked in revenue of $43.4 billion in 2018, up 18 percent from 2017, according to research firm NPD Group.

BTIG Managing Director Brandon Ross said Stadia will be a positive for game publishers "assuming that it works and works at scale, which is a big assumption."

That's because the platform could bring in players not willing to spend the money upfront for a gaming PC or a console.

"What they're presenting is a feasible way to play videogames in the cloud, and utilizing the cloud so you can play anytime, anyplace and anywhere," he said. "There's no friction, including the friction of upfront hardware costs."

Ross added that Google's platform could set up a distribution battle between Microsoft, which owns the Xbox, Sony, which owns the PlayStation, Google and perhaps Amazon, which reportedly is working on its own video-game service, as they race to lock down distribution of the most in-demand games.

To that end, Google launched Stadia Games and Entertainment which will develop Stadia-exclusive games.

"The differentiator for any of the distributors on a console or in the cloud is going to be available content," he said.

Harrison said Google will rely on outside publishers and game developers to provide many of the games available on the platform. But having its own inside studio will also allow the company to fully test and make use of new features.

"We can be the advance party, so to speak, and we can be testing out the latest technology," he said. "Once we've proven it we can help bring that up to speed on the platform even more quickly with our third-party partners."

Harrison acknowledged Google faces stiff competition from longtime rivals Microsoft, Sony and others. Google has been working on Stadia for more than four years, he said, and has been working with game developers through Android and Play Store for longer.

The others have more than a decade of experience. But Google believes it brings something new.

"We are not a historical console or PC platform," he said. "We are built specifically for this new generation."

Dhaka, Mar 19 (UNB) - The first day of the three-day BASIS SoftExpo 2019 that began at International Convention City Bashundhara on Tuesday marked the launch of Grameenphone IoT, the next step towards digitisation in Bangladesh, at BICC.

The launch was attended by State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak, BASIS President Syed Almas Kabir, Deputy CEO and CMO of Grameenphone Yasir Azman and Chief Business Officer Mahmud Hossain.

The launch of Grameenphone IoT marks Grameenphone’s commitment towards the future of Digital Bangladesh, said a press release.

During this initiation, Grameenphone introduced a range of IoT products and services catering to B2C, B2B and B2G requirements.

Grameenphone launched a “Smart Home” solution with Datasoft Bangladesh Limited, which will allow customers to control home appliances and ensure home safety. The “Smart Home Starter Kit” will start at Tk. 7,999 and comprises of motion, smoke, gas and water leakage sensors.

Grameenphone also launched the “SEEMO Smart Security” solution with Bangla-Trac Communications Limited through which customers can monitor, listen in on and talk back through the smart indoor cameras or a smart doorbell, from their smartphone. The service also includes 7 days of recording storage on the cloud.

The smart camera will cost Tk 2,999, while the smart doorbell Tk 7,999 in addition to a 4G router at Tk 4,999.

Additionally, Grameenphone announced a number of business products such as “Smart Attendance” for schools and offices, Industrial IoT solutions for factories and Smart Metering solutions for electricity, water and gas utilities.

As a part of the launching ceremony, Grameenphone also announced a number of IoT enablement services such as a Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) communications network, IoT connectivity and data management platforms, and a developer program called “Start IoT”. This program, which will be offered in partnership with Telenor Research, has been designed to encourage students and entrepreneurs to come up with innovative IoT solutions and help them turn their ideas into reality.

Maya service for Robi subscribers is essentially a digital healthcare and well-being assistant that intelligently understands the users’ health related concerns/ question and makes it easy to connect to real doctors, therapists & lifestyle advisors.

Maya service can be accessed using SMS, WAP (http://m.maya.com.bd/mayavas) and mobile app. In order to access the platform using SMS, one needs to type Start<space>Maya and send to 23333 to get the service link. The app users may download the Maya app from Google’s Play Store.

Any Robi user can subscribe to this service and avail these benefits. Registered users can avail all the available features like daily SMS tips, access to WAP and APP only by paying daily subscription fee of two taka (Excluding Supplementary Duty, VAT and Surcharge).

The on-demand service feature option is available only in Maya app (not in WAP). Any Robi users can download Maya app to avail the on demand features. Users can enjoy the on-demand service by paying 39 taka (Excluding Supplementary Duty, VAT and Surcharge) with seven days validity.

Under the on-demand service, users will be able to ask health related questions from 8 AM to 8 PM. They will get first two question’s response within 90 minutes. In case more questions are asked then those will be responded to within 24 hours.